Turbulent district derby
Too little power, no cleverness: Borussia Dortmund showed nerves in the long-distance title duel with FC Bayern and possibly gambled away the best starting position for years. After the disappointing 1:1 (1:1) of the Bundesliga leaders on Friday evening at VfL Bochum, the pursuers from Munich can overtake again with a home win over bottom Hertha BSC on Sunday.
In front of 26,000 spectators in the sold-out Ruhr Stadium, Bochum goalscorer Anthony Losilla (5th minute) snatched BVB from all dreams of the first championship since 2012. Even Karim Adeyemi’s immediate goal (7th) couldn’t change the fact that Dortmund went on to win across all competitions went without a win away from home for the sixth time in a row. On the other hand, the table-15. from Bochum have every reason to be happy. After surprisingly winning a point in a long-fought and turbulent district derby, VfL found new courage in the fight to remain in the league.
“Friday evening, derby, one team wants to be German champions, the other wants to stay in the league – there’s nothing better,” said VfL coach Thomas Letsch shortly before kick-off. And the teams offered the crowd a lot of spectacle right from the start, each scoring a goal with their first chances. When Bochum took the lead early on, Losilla hit the ball perfectly from almost 17 meters into the corner, BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel stretched in vain. This was preceded by a successful dribbling by Takuma Asano, who was preferred to Simon Zoller at VfL, against Raphael Guerreiro.
But the answer from the title contender, for whom captain Marco Reus was again not in the starting XI one day after his contract extension, followed promptly: After a long ball, Danilo Soares misjudged Dortmund’s attacking right side, so that Donyell Malen broke through and passed the ball sharply inside could. Sébastien Haller touched him with his toe, but Adeyemi pushed him over the line to make it 1-1. As a result, the BVB team, which Letsch called the “world selection”, tried to control the game and created more chances.
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In the 26th minute, Jude Bellingham and Adeyemi had a double chance after a counterattack for Dortmund’s second goal on their feet. Bellingham’s shot was parried by the recently heavily criticized VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann. The hosts obviously had their problems with the very conspicuous Adeyemi. But BVB also revealed weaknesses in the transition game, which Asano (35th) and Philipp Hofmann (43rd) almost punished. All in all, Bochum presented themselves much better than the 1:5 home defeat against VfL Wolfsburg a week earlier. They countered Dortmund’s love of play with strength in duels and the joy of running and also looked for a way forward. BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl had expected nothing else: “They will scratch, bite and do everything.”
Even after the change of sides, VfL defended compactly and passionately. Dortmund often lacked ideas in the last third of the field, and the slippery lawn due to the increasing rain also made their combination game more difficult. The visitors were unlucky when they were denied a penalty after Soares had lobbed Adeyemi in the penalty area (65′). BVB trainer Terzic was very upset about this decision by referee Sascha Stegemann.
About a quarter of an hour before the end, Terzic brought on two fresh offensive players in Reus and Youssoufa Moukoko – and that paid off immediately. Moukoko (75th) had a great chance to make it 2-1 for Dortmund after a pass from Reus, which increased the pressure significantly. Mats Hummels scored an offside goal just before the end of regulation time. Stegemann again rated a handball as not worthy of a penalty.
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